In North Carolina's Senate Race, A Divisive TV Fight Over 'Values'

By ROBIN TONER, Special to The New York Times

Published: September 23, 1990

RALEIGH, N.C., Sept. 22—
Meet Harvey Gantt, the Democratic candidate for Senate, as defined by the television advertising of his opponent, Senator Jesse Helms:

Mr. Gantt ''is asking you and me to approve of some pretty awful things.'' He would allow abortions ''in the final weeks of pregnancy.'' He opposes the death penalty ''for rapists who brutally beat their victims.'' He wants to slash the military budget. He has ''extreme liberal values.''

Meet Mr. Helms, as defined by the advertising of the Gantt campaign:

He would rather ''fight a few artists'' than help the schoolchildren of North Carolina. He has ''the worst education record'' in the Senate. He wants to change the Constitution ''to fit his views.'' His television advertising should be labeled ''Hazardous to the Truth.''

Charges and Countercharges

Six weeks before the election, the Gantt-Helms race has become a classic battle of the airwaves, a volley of charges and countercharges fired on the borders of the afternoon soap operas, Oprah Winfrey and the evening news. A poll published today by The Charlotte Observer says the race is a virtual dead heat.

Carter Wrenn, a top strategist for Mr. Helms, said he did not anticipate any debates between the Senator and Mr. Gantt. Mr. Helms's campaign, unlike most campaigns, has often chosen not to publicize his appearances widely. Earlier this month, The Associated Press in Raleigh asked member news organizations to help it track Mr. Helms's campaign stops.

Dating from his first campaign for the Senate in 1972, Mr. Helms and his advisers have been masters of the rough politics of values, the technique of defining an opponent as out of the mainstream - a technique applied at the Presidential level by George Bush in 1988 against his Democratic oppponent, Gov. Michael S. Dukakis. The Helms approach is epitomized by the closing of several of his commercials, which show a photograph of Mr. Helms labeled ''North Carolina Values'' and a photograph of Mr. Gantt labeled ''Liberal Values.''

A Conservative Majority

''North Carolina is basically a state where the majority hold conservative values,'' said Charles Black, a Republican consultant who is advising Senator Helms. ''If they understand the difference they'll go with the conservative.''

The challenge for Mr. Gantt is to steer the debate away from emotional issues like the death penalty, which he opposes and which is often used to drive a wedge between conservative Democrats and their party.

Mr. Gantt, who was Charlotte's first black Mayor and is often presented as a symbol of the New South, stresses issues like education and the environment. But few other campaigns can control a dialogue like the Helms organization, a battle-tested cadre of strategists who can create an unrelenting pressure on the airwaves.

''If you answered every charge you'd barely have enough time or money to do anything else,'' said Mandy Grunwald, Mr. Gantt's political consultant.

Former Gov. Jim Hunt, whose image was badly bloodied by Mr. Helms in the 1984 Senate campaign, is often cited as exhibit A for the power of the Helms media effort.

Poll Results Lift Democrats

Given the intensity of the Helms effort against Mr. Gantt, Democrats were ecstatic over the Observer poll results.

That poll, conducted Sept. 17-19, showed Mr. Helms with 46 percent of the people whom the newspaper considered likely to vote, Mr. Gantt with 45 percent and 9 percent undecided. Mr. Helms was getting 56 percent of the white support and 6 percent of the black, while Mr. Gantt was getting 35 percent of the white support and 90 percent of the black.

The poll, based on telephone interviews with 401 people, has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus five percentage points. Sampling error aside, many pre-election surveys in other states have found whites reluctant to tell an unknown interviewer that they intend to vote against a black.

''He's taken six weeks of very negative advertising on taxes, the death penalty and abortion, and the fact that the race is still deadlocked where it was has got to be of great concern to the Helms organization,'' said Anita Dunn, a spokeswoman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

Some Emotional Messages

The Helms advertising campaign is made up of a series of gripping images and emotional messages. One ad shows a woman prostrate on a hillside, surrounded by paramedics. ''The death penalty for rapists who brutally beat their victims?'' the narrator asks.

''Gantt says 'No.' Helms says 'Yes.' ''

Another advertisement opens with President Saddam Hussein in uniform, with Iraqis cheering and chanting in the background. It cuts to American troops ''meeting the threat, going in harm's way.'' The narrator then asserts that Mr. Gantt wants massive cuts in military spending, but ''Senator Helms says, 'No, we can't take that risk.' ''

The Gantt advertising has tried to present Mr. Helms as a man who puts his personal priorities, like his crusade against the National Endowment for the Arts for financing what he considers obscene art, ahead of the needs of North Carolina in areas like education. ''While Jesse Helms has fought for what matters to him, he's fought against what matters to North Carolina,'' one commercial says.